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Thursday, September 18, 2008

Quote Of The Day

From BookerRising Blog"Thank you Democrats and the media for reminding me why I'm a libertarian Democrat. First, on the topic of the 'Wall Street meltdown' I am completely and totally heartless and callous. I don't blame this on George W. Bush and the Republicans. I don't blame this on Bill Clinton and the 1990s. It's the entire system at fault and to lay the blame at any one individual is absurd and just political opportunism. I understand that I have a cancerous disdain for people who bought into the idea that housing values will always go up, and I'm similarly distrustful of the often parroted line that the stock market will always go up--a claim that isn't necessarily true over several decades (because we're all dead in the long run) for both the United States and most other countries. Investment is a risk, not a guarantee. The insanity with which both Democrats and Republicans have pursued subsidizing homeownership in this country is a serious problem still threatening this country. Viewing a home as an investment, and not just as a place to live, is a drag on the mobility of labor in our economy. Our system of homeownership subsidies do little to make the difference between someone being able to afford to buy a home versus renting, they mainly prop up affluent Americans who would be able to afford a home anyway. So I'm not going to start demanding that the political system 'Do Something!' because the financial markets are still suffering from the burst of a speculative bubble. The system sucks, it needs to be changed, but that depends on serious radical reform that gets to the root problems of our financial system. Obama and McCain aren't talking about that. And on the topic of systemic failures, let's talk about the spike in gasoline prices following Hurricane Ike. I am similarly completely and totally unsympathetic to those who cry 'Price Gouging!' during this recent turn of events. A fragile network of pipelines and refineries was pushed too far by Hurricane Ike and the system of supply broke down. Overly worried consumers rushed to the gas pumps to fill up with gas. Limited supply, a spike in demand, and we get shortages and jumps in prices. That is what is supposed to happen. So thank you to the Democratic Party and the media for reminding me why I'm a libertarian Democrat." — Freedom Democrats, a blog for libertarian Democrats